Letters, Stories, and Pictures From the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s) to the Great Depression (1930s)

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

GOD IS LOVE; Nebraska; 1929

Dear Farmer's Wife:

Guess I'll just write you a line and give you a peep into the life of another busy farmer's wife. Married at fifteen, I became the mother of five rosy, chubby babies in less than eight years. When the third babe arrived we decided town was no place for a "poor man," so we rented a farm.

Well, the first year our hogs died with cholera; the second, all the kiddies, including Daddy, were very sick with scarlet fever; and the third, our four work horses broke the gate and got into the seed wheat and died. Such has been our luck, but have we given up? Not much!

It's true I've shed a good many tears, and it isn't so funny to wear a winter coat ten years. Yet a person can't afford to think of these trivial matters where others are concerned. And when at meal time our baby Ken bows his curly head and says "God is Love," I can truly say I'm not sorry for the sacrifice.--Anna.

2 comments:

Jodi/CO
said...

Dear Anna,I know you are gone now but surely there are others who have followed in your footsteps. I want to say to you all, "Thank you for your sacrifices which have shown us who come after that it is possible to endure with gratitude." To read your story encourages me so much. If you can do it so can I. Thank you again.

Sometimes these letters are so poignant and I want to know what kind of happy ending these women had! I envision her surrounded by adoring grandchildren many years later. Her kitchen is sunny and a cake sits on the counter for those little ones when they visit. The hard times are over and she is content and happy. Love these letters....